Of DNA 18 January 2013

Scientists shed light on the 'dark matter' of DNA 18 January 2013

gene is expressed. This regulation ensures that each gene is only active in appropriate cell-types and tissues, e.g. haemoglobin in red blood cell precursors, digestive enzymes in the stomach, or ion channels in neurons. If gene regulation fails, cells express the wrong genes and acquire inappropriate functions such as the ability to divide and proliferate, leading to diseases such as cancer.

Despite the importance of gene regulatory regions, scientists have been limited in their ability to study them on a genome-wide scale. Their identification relied on indirect means, which were error prone and required tedious experiments for validating and quantifying enhancer activities..

Alexander Stark and his team at the IMP in Vienna now closed this gap with the development of a new technology called STARR-seq (self-transcribing active regulatory region sequencing), published online by Science this week. STARR-seq allows the In each cell, thousands of regulatory regions direct identification of DNA sequences that function control which genes are active at any time. as enhancers and simultaneously measures their Scientists at the Research Institute of Molecular activity quantitatively in entire genomes. Pathology (IMP) in Vienna have developed a method that reliably detects these regions and Applying their technology to Drosophila cells, the measures their activity. The new technology is IMP-scientists surprisingly find that the strongest published online by Science this week. enhancers reside in both regulatory genes that determine the respective cell-types as well as in Genome sequences store the information about an broadly active "housekeeping" genes that are organism's development in the DNA's four-letter required for basic cell survival in most or all cells. In alphabet. Genes carry the instruction for proteins, addition, they find several enhancers for each which are the building blocks of our bodies. active gene, which might provide redundancy to However, genes make up only a minority of the ensure robustness of gene regulation. entire genome sequence – roughly two percent in humans. The remainder was once dismissed as The new method combines advanced sequencing "junk", mostly because its function remained technology and highly specialized know-how in bio- elusive. "Dark matter" might be more appropriate, computing. It is a powerful tool which, according to but gradually light is being shed on this part of the Alexander Stark, will prove immensely valuable in genome, too. the future. "STARR-seq is like a magic microscope that lets us zoom in on the regulatory regions of Far from being useless, the non-coding part of DNA. It will be crucial to study gene regulation and DNA contains so-called regulatory regions or how it is encoded in the genome – both during enhancers that determine when and where each normal development and when it goes wrong in

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disease."

The paper "STARR-seq Reports Genome-Wide Quantitative Enhancer Activity Maps Revealing Complex cis-Regulation of Transcription" by Cosmas Arnold et al. is published online by Science on January 17, 2013.

More information: Arnold, C. et al., STARR-seq Reports Genome-Wide Quantitative Enhancer Activity Maps Revealing Complex cis-Regulation of Transcription. Science, January 17, 2013.

Provided by Research Institute of Molecular Pathology APA citation: Scientists shed light on the 'dark matter' of DNA (2013, January 18) retrieved 27 September 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2013-01-scientists-dark-dna.html

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